S P H I N X G A U R JE.
O L IV E -S H A D E D H AW K -M O T H .
GAUKA B IE N N IS . L IN N .
BIENNIAL GAURA.
S. alis deniatis: primoribus olivaceis ffrigis duabus albidis punfto difci ddloideo; pofiicis
ferrugmeis flrigi pallidi exterms nigris margine albo.
T aken feeding on th e Gaura in May, on th e 20th o f which month it enclofed it-
fe lf in a w eb on the furface o f th e ground, and th e fly came o u t Ju n e ytb. I t has
n o t been found in Virginia, and is v e iy rare in Georgia, where it flies very fwiftly
b y day, extracting honey from flowers.
This Sphinx approaches the Medea of Fabricius, Etitom. emend. V. 4. 3C3, with which
we have compared i t |. In that however the wings are left dentated, their colour more green
than olive, and they are deftitute of the pale tranfverfe ftripes fo evident in that here repre-
feuted. & (Emiherx, Fabr. p. 359, comes a great deal nearer to ours, but the colouring of
that too feems different, not to mention a longitudinal pale line on its upper wings, while
the under ones are yellow, and want the light tranfverfe ftripe of ours. In the dark fpeck on
the difk of the upper they nearly agree. We fliould indeed frill have hefitated upon the fub-
jeft, having no knowledge of S. CEnothera: but from figures, had not the lama of this infeft
decided the point. It is reprefented by Efpcr, Vol. 2. tah. 20, without a horn, and other-
wife very different from that in Mr. Abbot's drawing. Hence it appears they are two nearly
allied fpecies, feeding on two plants of the fame natural order.